This post originally ran on LinkedIn. Apple might be the most straight-forward, boring brand in the world. But they don’t seem to know it. Their emails and print ads have headlines. Headlines! Print ads! Email?!? And these emails! They always talk about product features and benefits. And have a clear call to action. Just one!

When bad things happen, we want to find a cause. This is a dangerous habit. When something bad happens there can only be two scenarios: 1. There is someone or something that caused it and it is clear to everyone. 2. There does not seem to be any reason for it to have happened. On

I’ve written here before that I don’t think brainstorming works. My opinion is based on 20+ years of experience running groups whose job it was to generate ideas. It didn’t matter if we were working on ideas for new products or how to advertise them, just getting in a room tossing out crazy ideas without